Visceral Inspiration – The Widowmaker (5.9R, III) – Cathedral Rock, Death Canyon – GTNP, WY (08.24.23)

Established by Kevin Donald and Jim Erickson in 1969, The Widowmaker ascends perhaps the most impressive dihedral feature in Grand Teton National Park, characterized by abundant off-width, squeeze and chimney climbing on nearly every pitch, with supreme exposure, some loose rock and serious runouts – my wildest ride of 2023.

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I came across The Widowmaker before I knew it was a climbing route, spotting the spectacular top-to-bottom dihedral from the upper Death Canyon basin while trail running with Bobbi Clemmer this June. We stared at the beast in awe, and only later uncovered that Kevin Donald and Jim Erickson beat us to the first ascent 54 years ago – no wonder. Given the incomparable aesthetics against the other half-dozen Death Canyon classics, most of which are relatively nondescript, I suspected a reason nobody was climbing on this route – hell, the name alone beckons caution. However, I was possessed with a visceral urge for investigation, and two months later found myself at the base, gearing up for another quest into the unknown.

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Jordan Creech was my partner for the day, and we made generally expedient pace to the base, located just above the bottom of the Snaz descent chimneys – a loose two hours from the car. If the description and picture above isn’t enough, a large white chockstone about halfway up the wall, the keynote of pitch four, is an identifying feature. In order to equally disperse the difficult climbing we resolved to lead in blocks, and I was up for pitches one and two. The first lead took easy slabs to a foreboding “5.7 squeeze”, the only protectable passage to the upper dihedral. I don’t climb squeezes very often, but have learned three valuable lessons: don’t waste time trying climb glamorously, embrace discomfort and expect sandbagging. I tried to find a reasonable way to stem around the beast, but quickly unclipped my helmet, shifted my gear sling to the right and wedged my entire body in. Knee bars, chicken wings, two rattly chockstones and a few in-cut crimps saw me to the top with several puffs and grunts, and much to my pleasure the fissure took a variety of protection to four inches. For an unseasoned wide climber this felt somewhere around 5.9, but compared to the 1970 unprotectable “5.8 squeeze” `on the Chouinard-Frost Chimney (on which I had a truly existential experience) was surely 5.7. In Yosemite it’d probably be 5.6. I’ll settle for 5.7+.

Above the chimney, easy rolling slabs led to a slung block belay beneath a large black chimney and the commencement of pitch two. I opted for a three inch, lightly vegetated crack right of the chimney, which eventually narrowed to a stellar off-fingers layback crack and fractured slab trending climber’s right (5.8). A few more slab boulder problems, some with better protection than others, fed into a low angle trough filled with loose rubble underpinning the cleaner and steeper pitches of the upper dihedral. We shifted the belay up this trough to the base of the stellar looking pitch three, which is capped by the aforementioned white chockstone of pitch four.

Our original reason for block leading was to divvy up the two 5.8 crux pitches, but Jordan ended up scoring the first significant sandbag. Though I’ve heard such horror stories (cough cough… from Chouinard/Becky’s Crescent Arete on Mount Owen), I’ve never personally experienced a 5.7 crack that climbed near 5.10. The corner was free from the loose rock that plagued ledges on pitches one and two, but offered little in the way of reasonable protection for a near half rope-length. Very reminiscent of the Snaz’s pitch three off-width, the name of the game was a wide, sustained and difficult to protect flare, ending in a strenuous layback. Had we a five or even six inch piece this may have protected just fine, but second year trad climber Creech quickly found himself some 20 feet runout at what we ultimately retro-graded the 5.9R layback crux. Thankfully, despite a brief foot pop that left me tight on the cord, Creech mustered his 5.12 gym climber strength and pulled through, resisting a serious, serious winger. I groveled up with tremendous respect for my budding partner, and joined him at a sloped ledge belay with a fixed nut below the white chockstone pitch. This was a 70 minute lead and the most sandbagged pitch of the climb.

Pitch four, the original crux of the route, actually fell surprisingly smoothly, presumably due to improvements in sticky rubber since 1969. After a brief 5.8 stem chimney, a trivial 5.7 slab led around the white chockstone and up the never-ending dihedral on reasonable off-vertical cracks with good protection. From our belay on a nice grassy pedestal beneath the final imposing roof, I blasted into pitch five, which quickly devolved into another run-out lead on an unforgiving wide crack. More 5.9R moves with 40 foot ledge fall potential demanded mental fortitude, and while the roof featured the physical crux of the day, underclings and overhanging jugs with tremendous exposure (5.9), at least the protection was… reasonable. From a convenient ledge above the roof Creech scored the last hoorah, a powerful 10 foot 5.9 boulder problem with no gear directly off the belay. No factor twos were experienced, and he quickly squirmed up the final steep crack to gentler alpine terrain above. We finished with a concluding scurry up easy-fifth terrain gently left of the highest point on the wall.

We were on the wall some 9 hours in full, right in line with a slightly sandbagged grade III. We ultimately used the recommended Snaz descent chimneys to egress, but gained them directly via a southwest facing couloir directly south of the route summit. Presenting hundreds of feet of steep dirt, low-fifth class slabs and loose rock, this couloir would be a nightmare when wet, dangerous to rappel and left us thinking “there has to be a better way”. Car-to-car time was about 15 hours, with the ultimate gem of the journey a brilliant plastering of sunset alpenglow on our rock du’ jour, flooding our spirits with a tremendous sense of accomplishment.

Route Reflection

If I were selling the Widowmaker on an informercial, my punchline would read something like: “The Widowmaker, an off-width on every pitch!” While this isn’t entirely true, there is some kind of chimney, squeeze or true off-width on pitches one, three, four, five and six. Therefor, it goes without saying that enjoyment of said styles is a pre-requisite for such an undertaking, as well as a tolerance for ample loose rock on the extensive stretches of lower angle gatekeeper faire. Despite its low elevation, this route had a real virgin high-alpine feel, and all the tactics of adventure climbing should be practiced in regards to sheltered belay stations and rope management in loose terrain. That said, the rock quality on the steep and difficult pitches was reasonably sound, making this climb fairly predictable for the leader. Overall, The Widowmaker is characterized by pitch after pitch of physical, and at times quite poorly protected, climbing with supreme exposure in an interesting nook of Grand Teton National Park, highly reminiscent in style and difficulty to the Chouinard-Frost Chimney (5.9, IV) on Disappointment Peak. For another comparison, I personally found this route more sustained, difficult and certainly more committing than the Snaz (5.10-, IV). With the mess of loose rock on the many ledges bisecting the lower pitches, bailing from this route should hardly be considered an option.

Rack Discussion & Danger Evaluation

The biggest piece on our rack was a blue Metolius SuperCam, roughly equivalent to a #4 Camalot. This was not sufficient to protect the wide cruxes on pitches three or five, making them heady “R” rated leads. Though only a hypothesis, a five or even six inch piece could protect those pitches well, tamping the danger to a reasonable level. The omission of a four inch piece would make this an X rated lead. If I were to climb The Widowmaker again I would bring a single rack of cams from fingers to five (or even six) inches, with doubles to comfort at the grade, accompanied by a full rack of nuts and some long slings for the roof pitches. I personally wouldn’t even consider climbing this route again without at least one five inch piece.

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DISCLAIMER
Ski mountaineering, rock climbing, ice climbing and all other forms of mountain recreation are inherently dangerous. Should you decide to attempt anything you read about in this article, you are doing so at your own risk! This article is written to the best possible level of accuracy and detail, but I am only human – information could be presented wrong. Furthermore, conditions in the mountains are subject to change at any time. Ten Thousand Too Far and Brandon Wanthal are not liable for any actions or repercussions acted upon or suffered from the result of this article’s reading.